


Never Do That Again

by FrodaB



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angsty Schmoop, Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-24
Updated: 2013-09-24
Packaged: 2017-12-27 12:32:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/978925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrodaB/pseuds/FrodaB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>He was so close, she could smell his breath – taste the tension in the air as they stared each other down.</i>
</p>
<p>For a kmeme prompt wanting to see the first time they say "I love you"... during a fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Do That Again

“What the _hell_ was that, Shepard?”

When the door to her cabin opened and she'd heard Garrus' familiar stride crossing the room, she'd assumed he was here to – what? Make sure she was okay? Comfort her, maybe? Make out?

Any of those things were viable possibilities, after the day they'd had. After the _month_ they'd had.

What she was not expecting, was anger.

“Huh?” Admittedly, her head was still a little fuzzy-feeling – happened, when you nearly ran out of air in a mech on a deep-sea dive and had your mind screwed with by a – well, a _Leviathan_. Garrus just crossed his arms over his chest, though, clearly not willing to give her any sympathy.

“I get it, I really do. You're the hero of the Citadel, the savior of the galaxy, and you take risks. You're a soldier, and any good soldier knows every fight is a risk.” This sounded almost like a prepared speech. “But what you did today? That was just fucking reckless. Do you have a death wish?”

“Excuse me?” She felt the anger flare at his words – at his tone. It was one thing to question a commander's decision – she welcomed it, she wanted input from everyone. But this? “Could you sound any more patronizing? The only way we were getting off that wreck was by someone going down in that mech. We all knew it.”

“No, _we_ didn't!” Garrus shot back. “We had no idea if the source of the energy pulse came from down there, and in fact no reason to think it _did_! Maybe next time you should _think_ before jumping face-first into something that clearly wants to kill you!”

“Like you jumped face-first into the criminal gangs on Omega?” Shepard growled back. It was a low blow, she knew, but she didn't expect his reaction. He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a little shake.

“That was different. You weren't there, you didn't see what was happening. You _weren't there_.” 

Another shake, and she pushed him away roughly, thinking of the dark and the cold, of being afraid, and being controlled. If anything, the accusation in his tone just made her angrier. “I _had to do it_ ,” she reiterated, a warning in her voice. He had to understand. “If you can't handle my decisions in the field, just because we're -”

Garrus stalked up to her, invading her personal space, but she didn't back down. “I will _not_ stand by and watch the woman I love throw herself into the abyss to become a martyr,” he growled, looming over her, daring her to question his words.

“And _I_ won't let the man I love accuse me of having a death wish when that is the _opposite_ of what I have!”

He was so close, she could smell his breath – taste the tension in the air as they stared each other down.

She didn't know who moved first, or if they both moved at the same time, but then they were kissing, fiercely, hungrily, Garrus' hands plucking at the fabric of her shirt, pulling it away from her skin so he could get at her waist. “Dammit, Shepard,” he said, almost desperately, and her hands went to his face, tracing his mandibles carefully.

“I know,” she murmured into his mouth. 

_Love_. Neither of them had said it before. She wasn't sure when it had happened, for her, exactly, but somewhere along the line, between blowing off steam, between the Omega-4 Relay, Aratoht, her return to Earth, the Reaper attack, reuniting on Menae... 

“I don't want to die,” she insisted, as they roughly pulled off clothes and stumbled to the bed. “I _love_ you.”

Garrus growled, nipping at her neck, hooking her legs around him as she felt him hard and hot against her belly. “I can't lose you again,” she felt more than heard him say against her skin, and she arched her hips up to meet him.

She couldn't promise him that, and they both knew it – couldn't promise him to stay safe, to not die. It would be a lie, and she couldn't lie to him. So instead, she murmured his name as he entered her, pressing their foreheads together, almost by way of apology.

It wasn't gentle – they were both still too keyed-up for that. He rocked into her erratically, and groaned when she pressed her fingers against the underside of his fringe the way he liked. “I love you,” he growled again, and again. Like a dam had been broken, and this was the flood.

She was breathless, flushed and wet – it was, frankly, the sexiest thing she'd ever heard, that voice saying _I love you_ over and over again, knowing it was true, knowing she loved him back, and all she could do was hold on, meeting his thrusts with her hips.

When his finger found her clit, she cried out and came almost immediately, arching against him as the waves of pleasure overtook her. She felt him jerk inside her, following her over the precipice, biting down on her neck hard enough to leave a mark.

Eventually, catching their breath, Shepard shifted, slinging an arm around Garrus carefully. “I'm sorry I worried you,” she finally said. “Trust me when I say I don't want to be a martyr. I have way too much to live for.” She traced his scarred mandible, and Garrus sighed, gripping her hips to pull her tight up against his body.

“I do trust you,” he said. “Just... let me play the overprotective boyfriend every now and then, okay?”

Shepard smiled. “Deal.”


End file.
